Robert F. Kennedy Jr announcing he was suspending his independent presidential campaign and endorsing Donald Trump
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pictured as he suspended his presidential campaign in August, said in a video message that a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris would be a "vote for nuclear war." AFP

Former longshot presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said a vote for Kamala Harris would be a "vote for nuclear war," citing her endorsement by Republican Dick Cheney, the "driving force" of the Iraq war.

Kennedy, who dropped out of the race this summer and endorsed Donald Trump, posted the more than five-minute message on X, warning that Harris would be a "pushover" for U.S. military leaders who seek war.

"If you want to avoid nuclear war, I strongly urge you to vote for Donald Trump. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a vote for Kamala Harris is a vote for nuclear war," Kennedy said in the video message.

He referred to Cheney, who served as vice president in the George W. Bush administration, calling him "the driving force on a group called the neocons which started the Iraq war in which the U.S. launched an unprovoked preemptive attack" to stop Saddam Hussein from using weapons of mass destruction.

"As history now shows, there were no weapons of mass destruction. It was all a neocon lie," Kennedy, the scion of the storied Democratic political clan, said.

"This fraction of our military and intelligence establishment that we call the neocons, led by Dick Cheney faked the evidence of weapons of mass destruction because they wanted a war," he continued.

He also invoked the name of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, for pushing back against the military officials who wanted to launch a surprise attack on the USSR.

Kennedy also mentioned President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the "military-industrial complex."

Harris' "belligerent and hostile remarks" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention "were extremely alarming," he said.

Her comments, he claimed, showed she would be a perfect pushover, a puppet for the military intelligence faction that wants this war."

"We don't need a president who is so weak that she needs to prove her strength to the American people by sacrificing the life of American military personnel and foreign engagements abroad," Kennedy said.

Speaking of how Trump said he would negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war, Kennedy said: "If JFK were alive today, he would be standing side by side with President Trump on this issue."